UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The spatial morphology of synagogue visibility as a measure of Jewish acculturation in late nineteenth-century London

Vaughan, L; (2020) The spatial morphology of synagogue visibility as a measure of Jewish acculturation in late nineteenth-century London. Urban Morphology , 24 (2) Green open access

[thumbnail of Vaughan_Urban Morphology synagogues pre-publication.pdf]
Preview
Text
Vaughan_Urban Morphology synagogues pre-publication.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper’s historical focus is the latter two decades of nineteenth-century London. During this period the established Jewish community of the city benefited from political emancipation, but this was not the case for the recently arrived impoverished Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe. The spatial constitution of religious practice also differed across the city: in a study of two sample areas, one in the more prosperous West End which, other than an isolated case in the impoverished district of Soho, had purpose-built buildings fronting the street; and another in an area of Whitechapel, in the East End, which was dominated by smaller ad hoc arrangements – one-room or adapted premises, shtiebels – serving a wider communal and social purpose, similar to the practice of the old country. A comparative space syntax isovist analysis of the visibility of synagogue façades from surrounding streets found that while, in the West End, most synagogues had a limited public display of religious practice by this time, East End prayer houses remained visible only to their immediate, Jewish majority surroundings. The paper proposes that the amount of synagogue-street visibility corresponds to the stage of growth in both social acculturation and political confidence.

Type: Article
Title: The spatial morphology of synagogue visibility as a measure of Jewish acculturation in late nineteenth-century London
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: http://www.urbanform.org/online_public/2020_2.shtm...
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: religion, immigration, visibility, isovists, synagogues, London
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Architecture
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088297
Downloads since deposit
0Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item